


4 am

by Edie_Sunshine



Series: Just Two Guys [15]
Category: Sons of Anarchy
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-31
Updated: 2012-12-31
Packaged: 2017-11-23 03:22:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/617513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Edie_Sunshine/pseuds/Edie_Sunshine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four in the morning is a dead time, the time when Chibs is at his lowest ebb, unable to think, unable to daydream, completely f***ing useless. That's probably why he normally drinks at this time- there's f*** all else to do.</p><p>Beta'd by the lovely Spacebabe</p>
            </blockquote>





	4 am

Four in the morning and Chibs, awake probably for the last hour, finally gives up on trying to sleep and clambers out of bed. True enough, he sleeps better with Juice there with him but even so, he never gets a full night. The younger man barely stirs, just goes right on snoring his head off. 

Chibs pulls his jeans and t-shirt back on, fumbles his way down the stairs in the pitch black. In the den, one of Juice's computers hums and bleeps to itself, either running some sort of anti-virus thing or downloading porn...

The Scotch bottle sits on a shelf. Normally, it would be in his hand, keeping him company, but since coming back from seeing his da, Chibs has been trying to do without. He puts the kettle on and makes a cup of tea instead. 

Then, because he's not a complete pussy, he gets a beer out of the fridge to drink while he's waiting on his tea. 

The house the two of them now share has almost the exact same set up as Chibs' old house: den and kitchen downstairs, narrow steps up into the darkness, bathroom and this time, two bedrooms upstairs. It looks nothing like Chibs' old house, though. Where Chibs' place had been pretty much just where he laid his head, Juice likes his creature comforts. And so, the shared house has shelves and computer stuff, and there's a little bucket of cleaning supplies in the cupboard under the sink. Rugs on the floor and pictures on the walls. It's nice, homely. You can sit there an' it feels almost like you're in your mams house. 

Of course, their house also has a cat living in it. And the four legged screech machine ambles its way into the den to glare at Chibs for daring to sit in its favourite spot on the sofa. 

Ha, Chibs thinks. You snooze, you lose.

Four in the morning is a dead time, the time when Chibs is at his lowest ebb, unable to think, unable to daydream, completely fucking useless. That's probably why he normally drinks at this time- there's fuck all else to do. 

He's tried reading, but he's not really big on novels- bunch of made up shite. 

He could watch a movie- Juice has thousands stored on his computer, but he's damned if he can be bothered with the hassle of trying to figure out which remote control is which, and which channel to use, and blah blah blah. 

If he wants the telly on, he normally yells for Juicy to do it. 

He sits and stares up at the mantel piece instead. It's a fucking ugly great thing, just like the one in his old house. All pretend brick- distressed, his sister has informed him over the phone. No shit, Sherlock, he'd said at the time- it's distressing the hell outta me, I can tell you... 

There's a picture of the girls from Caracara, and the mother of all bongs together with a little jar of loose change and a cactus plant that stabs you whenever you go near the mantel piece to get something. Chibs fucking hates that cactus.

Something moves. 

At first, Chibs thinks it's just his tired brain playing tricks on him, but when he shifts to focus, he sees it isn't. 

Eight legs. 

Scuttling. 

Shit.

Chibs isn't a fan of spiders. He knows they can't hurt him, but still, there's something deeply weird about the way they move, something wrong... 

He eyes the thing, thinks to himself, yeah, you just stay fucking put.

He'll be fine if it stays up there on the mantel.

He forces himself to take a deep breath, relax. It's not coming anywhere near him- knows better. Probably shitting its pants at the sight of him...

Upstairs, the floor creaks: Juicy getting up to piss. Boy's got a bladder like an old woman... 

When they'd first starting fucking, Juice used to wake up to find him gone and come looking for him, wanting to make sure he was okay, hadn't left, whatever. Now the kid knows better than to sacrifice the sleep, knows Chibs will sit around downstairs till dawn, then head back up. 

It's reached the stage where Chibs comes downstairs just so he can go back up and crawl in with the other man, molest him in his sleep. It's daft, the warm, tight feeling he gets when Juice unconsciously wraps himself around him. 

Chibs blinks awake. 

Hm, hadn't realised he was nodding off. 

Something's changed, though. 

On the arm of the chair beside him, the cat has paused, muscles shifting under the fur, its one eye wide and unblinking, paws and jaws itching. 

What's the stupid creature looking at?

Chibs turns his head to follow it's gaze and sees that the spider is no longer scuttling along the mantel, it's made its way up to the ceiling and then to the light fitting and now it's on its way down.

The shadow is huge, looming up against the wall like a reaper: eight legs writhing as it works its way down its little thread. 

It's going to land on Chibs' head. 

Heat and cold rush up his spine, hackles prickling, skin crawling. He's on his feet, hands out to protect himself, got to get away. 

One of his fingers connects with something and he bats it away.

'Gah!'

The spider hits the floor, tumbles, recovers and then it's up, rushing forwards, and Chibs knows it's gonna go up his trouser leg, leap onto his chest, crawl up his nose. His heart is yammering, mile a minute, fuck, fuck, fuck!

&&&

Juice is woken by a loud shout and a bang. 

What the-?

He leaps out of bed, grabs the gun from its hidey hole beneath the mattress, and checks the clip. 

He's down the stairs in the space of a few heartbeats. 

The lamp is on the floor, rolling about uselessly and throwing up weird shadows. 

The packing crate that serves as a coffee table and foot-rest lies upturned, magazines scattered all over the shitty carpet.

And on the couch, stands Chibs, white as a sheet.

'Chibby? What the fuck?' 

The guy gasps, actually gasps, and his eyes flit up to meet Juice's own and for a moment it's not Chibs standing there, it's the kid Juice has seen in Chibs' mom's photo album, scabby knees, sticky-up hair, snotty nose. 

Jean had told Juice once about four year old Filip rescuing mice from the mousetraps his father put down in their tiny apartment. How he had tried to hide one in his bedroom so his dad couldn't get to it and put it down the toilet. That he'd cried his eyes out when his father had tracked the mouse down, sent it to a watery grave. Juice had looked at Chibs and thought, nah! But right now, he can see, all too clearly, the kid Chibs must once have been.

Then, a moment later, it's gone and it's just Chibby standing there.

The older man looks embarrassed, peers down at his bare toes like he's trying to think of a reasonable explanation. 

A few feet away, the cat is hunched over something, hurriedly gulping it down. Juice flicks the safety on, lowers his gun. 

'Alright, Juicy.' Chibs says. Climbs off the couch like it really is nothing at all and gives a little shrug. 'Gave me a start, tha’s all...' Chibs may be blushing. Juice hadn't thought it possible.

Juice can see, though, by the way the other man's eyes keep darting over to the cat and its feasting, exactly what's going on. He raises one eyebrow.

'Uh, Chibbie, are you scared of spiders?' 

Chibs scoffs, takes his empty beer bottle out to the kitchen and throws it in the trash. 'Don't be daft.' 

That the man is putting his own trash in the can speaks volumes- guy never cleans up after himself.

'Babe... Did my cat just rescue you from a big bad spider?' It's mean but Juice can't resist creeping up behind the other man, whispering his fingers up his back and into his neck. 

Chibs shudders and pushes him off. 'Fuck off would yer?' 

But Juice just stands his ground, wraps his arms around the other man’s middle and presses a kiss to the little bump at the top of his spine. He can feel Chibs' heart still racing beneath his palm. 'It's okay. People get phobias all the time. Bobby's scared of snakes...'

'Yeah, well, snakes can fucking hurt you-'

'So can some spiders...' Juice coaxes the other man to turn around, leans up to press a kiss to his lips. 'I knew a kid in school who was scared of mustard. I mean, how dumb is that?' 

Chibs snorts, but he lets Juice pet him, and Juice feels him start to relax a little. 

&&&

Chibs slides his arms around the younger man's waist, hauls him close, sighs at the feeling of Juice's fingers playing in the hair at the nape of his neck, now that he knows they're definitely fingers and not spider legs. 

Finally, when his heart's stopped trying to leap out of his chest, he pushes Juice away to arm’s length.

'You ever tell anyone about this...'

'What, I catch you standing on the furniture like you're the fucking maid from Tom n' Jerry, and you think threatening me's gonna work?' Juice edges closer again, catches Chibs earlobe in his teeth. 'You want my silence, you're gonna have to pay for it...'


End file.
